Guard for power presses or the like



W WOELFEL GUARD FOR POWER PRESSES OR THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1920.

Patented Feb. 1922.

I77 vezvfar mania; Zwelf l fi07i79y-5 his hands injured.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WOELFEL, OF I'EABODY, MASSACHUSETTS.

GUARD FOB POWER PRESSES OR THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 9, 1920. Serial No. 364,592.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WonLFEL, a citizen of Austria, and resident of Peabody, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Guards for Power Presses punch presses or the like, serious injury to the hands of an operator often results from delay in removing the'hands from between the jaws of the press. In such presses it is usually necessary for the hands to be used inplacing the work in the press andthere is a tendency to attempt to speed the work up by having the press close as the hands are withdrawn, with consequent danger to the operator. Furthermore the operator will at times attempt to straighten a piece of work or remove foreign matter by reinserting his hand after the press has started to close. It has been found in'practice that any safety device which depends upon any voluntary act of the operator for the safety afforded is of doubtful utility, if not useless.

One of the most dangerous types of press is that at which two persons work on opposite sides but only one operates the press. An attempt has been made tofafford safety incertain types of these large presses having two. workers operating thereon by placing a foot board in front of the worker who does not operate the press, pressure on the footboard serving to prevent the operation of the press. It has been found in practice, however, that the worker will neglect to place his foot upon the board and, being almost entirely hidden from the operator by the press, is in constant danger of having My improved guard is of particular utility in connection with machines having so called safety footboards of the character described.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved means whereby workers upon power presses or the like machines will positively protect themselves against injury. It is an object to so equip such machines that the worker can not operate the machine without operating the safety device. It isa further object to provide means of the character described which are simple and effiment in operation and formed of but few parts, all of which are capable of.v inexpensive manufacture. Other and further ob ects willappear as the disclosure proceeds. 1

In its broadest aspect my invention comprises the provision of means in connection with the usual operating or safety control levers of a machine wherebythe machine can not be controlled without the safety devices comlng into operation. In the specific emembodiment which is herein fully described and shown by way of example, my invention comprises a lever in connection with the'safety footboard of a power press and a guard associated with such lever whereby work can not be placed or adjusted in the press unless the lever is depressed to raise the guard, the depression of the lever further serving to depress the safety foot-,

board and prevent operation of the press while the guard is raised.

I have illustrated one preferred form of my device in the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a face-view of a power press .85 -F1gure 2 1s a View of Fig. l as seen from.

showing my guard mounted thereon,

the left side.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation,

illustrating details of the connection between the operating .lever and thesafety device; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail front elevation to large scale, showing a guiding bracketforone of the movable parts of the. mechanism.

In order to properly show the application of my device I have found it necessary to illustrate a power pressin a diagrammatic manner. This press forms in itself no part of my invention and as shown comprises a base member 3, standards 4, cap member 5,

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

upper fixed abutment 6, lower movable abutl i ment 7, hand lever 8 and foot-pedal 9 connected by link 10 to the safety footboard 11 whose other end ishung from the base member by the stirrup 12.

It will be understood that in the use of the type of press indicated in the drawings, two workers stand one on either side of the press as seen in Fig. 2, the one on the right side normallyfeeding the work into the press and the one on the left assisting in adjusting the work and also operating the parts either by pulling forwardly on the member 8 or depressing the pedal 9, the shaft 50 upon which said lever and pedal are fixed serving to control a clutchwhereby the driving mechanism of any usual form (not shown)- is actuated to cause the abutments or jaws of the press to "close together. The safety foot board 11 has been provided for the safety of the worker other than the operator, theworker being expected to place his foot thereon while he is Working between the jaws of the'press, his weight acting through the link 10 and-serving to prevent movement of1the= lever '8 or pedal 9, and consequently to preventthe operation of the press.

There is nothing, however, to require the worker to place his foot upon the'safety board'except'his own desire to protect himself'and it has been found in practice that workers commonly neglect to do so with consequent danger andoccasional injury to themselves.

-My invention makes it necessary for the worker to place hisfoot upon the safety board'in order towork with the machine. As shown in the drawings my device comprises a' horizont'al shaft 14 which is supported bybr'ackets 15 which are fast to a fixed portion of the press. Rigidly connected to thisshaft 14: is the guard screen 16, the weight arm 17 carrying the weight18 and the actuating arm 19. The weight arm 17 normally rests in a fork comprising spaced members 20?, 20 in the upper end of the bracket 20'which is attached to any fixed portion of the ress, being here shown attached to thee utment '6. The actuating arm 19 is connected by the bar or cable 21 and link 22 to the foot actuatinglever 23 which ishinged at 24 to the foot board 11. A s'pring 25"n'ormally' maintains the foot lever in the positionshown in Fig. 1.

As clearly shown in" the drawings the screen 16 when down, covers the opening between the jaws ofthe press and prevents an operator placing his hands therebetween. This screen may be raised'by placing the foot upon the foot lever 23, which pulls down'upon the bar or cable 21 and consequently upon the actuating arm 19 and this turns theshaft 14, the screen rotating up- Ward out of the way. This pressure upon the foot lever 23 is directly transmitted to the safety'foot'board 11 and thus through the link'lO and intermediate connections restrains the lever 8 against forward move ment such as is necessary to start the press.

When the foot is removed from the foot lever, this member is raised by the spring 25, releasing the pull upon the actuating arm 19 and he screen fallsto the safety position, partly due to its own weight and partly due to'the weight 18 upon the weight arm "17 As shown this weight may be adpress'it is obvious that its operation is independent of that of the apparatus with which it is associated and that it may be used in connection with other types of apparatus where a guard is necessary or desirable' When used as shown it is practically impossible for'the worker to place work upon the machine unless the safety foot board is depressed and pressure on that board can not be released to permit operation of the machine without dropping the guard which requires removal of the hands of the worker from dangerous proximity to the press.

I claim:

1.'A double power press having clutch actuating means at one side thereof, and a safety device at the other side, a guard for the press and means for raising said guard out of the protecting position, said means being soassociated with the safety device'of the press as to require operation of that device in operating the means for raising the guard. V V

2. A double power press having a clutch operating device at one side thereof, and a foot safety board at the other side, a guard for the press and means for raising'said guard out of the protecting position, said means being so associated with the, foot safety board of the press as to require operation thereof in operating the means for raisin 'the guard.

3. power press comprising a movable safety device, a guard adaptednormally to cover the space between the' aws of the press and a manually actuable lever for raising said guard out of its normal position, said lever being supported by' the safety device of the press whereby to necessitate operation of that device in operating the lever for raising the guard.

4. In combination with a ower press and with the foot safety boardt ereof, a guard normally adapted to prevent a worker from placing his hands in dangerous proximity to'the machine, and a foot lever associated with said guard and adapted to so move the guard as to permit'access to the machine when said foot lever is depressed, the foot lever being so associated with the foot safety board as to actuate said board when the said foot lever is depressed.

5. In combination with a power, press having a foot safety board associated therewith, th board when actuated being adapted to prevent operation of the press, a guard member normally in guard position, and an foot board and adapted when depressed to actuating lever for said guard mounted on said foot board adapted when depressed to raise the guard out of guard position.

6. In combination with a power press having a foot safety board associated therewith, the board when actuated being adapted'to prevent operation of the press, a guard member normally in guard position, an ac tuating lever for said guard mounted on said foot board adapted when depressed to raise the guard out of guard position, andSo associated with the foot board that pressure on said actuating lever actuates said foot board.

7 In combination with a power press having a foot safety board associated therewith, the board when actuated being adapted to prevent operation of the press, a guard member normallyin guard position, an actuating lever for said guard mounted on said raise the guard out of guard position, the guard being adapted tobe returned to the guard position by gravity upon release'of pressure upon said actuating lever.

8. In combination with a power press having a foot safety board associated therewith, the board when actuated being adapted to prevent operation of the press, a guard member normally in guard position, an actuating lever for said guard mounted on said foot board adapted when depressed to raise the guard out of guard position, and so associated with the foot board that pressure on said actuating lever actuates said foot board, the guard being adapted to be returned to the guard position by gravity upon release of lever. I

9. In combination with a powerpress having a foot safety board associated therewith,

' device to safettly pressure upon said actuating the board when actuated beingadapted to I prevent operation of the press, a guard member normally in guard position, an actuating lever for said guard mounted on said foot board adapted when depressed to raise the guard out of guard position, and so associated with the foot board that pressure on said actuating lever actuates said foot board, the guard being adapted to be returned to the, guard position by gravity upon release of pressure upon said actuating lever, said release also serving to cease actuation of the foot safety board.

10. A double power press, having a clutch operating devicefat one side and a safety device at the opposite side, comprising in combination a guard member, a shaft for said member, andan actuating arm extending from said shaft, an actuating lever linked to the actuating arm and adapted when depressed to pull down the arm and thereby move the guard out of guard position, andsimultaneously to move'said safety omtion.

11. A guar or use with power presses com rising a guard member normallyheld in t e ard osition by gravity, a shaft for sai member, a weight arm and an actuating arm extending from said shaft, the weight arm carrying an adjustable weight adapted to assist in return:

ard to normal position, an actuatin ever linked to the actuating. arm and adapted when depressed to pull down the arm and thereby move the guard out of guard position, and a spring normally maintaining the actuating lever in raised ggsition.

Si ed by me at Peabody, assachusetts,

this fth day ofMarch, 1920.

WILLIAM WOELFE-L.

the 

